And that is a wrap. I hope everyone had a fun season!
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #18
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #16
Sunday was an awesome day for sailing! Huge thanks to the RC for putting on six fantastic races. The breeze was shifty, ranging from 10-17 knots, with a few gusts creeping into the low 20s—right on the edge of my threshold for switching to the radial. At 15+ knots, I feel like I gain more by keeping the boat flat and pointing higher with the radial than I lose in sail area.
Starts:
The boat end was favored, and at times, it almost felt like you could lay the mark straight from the boat. (Well, except for that one start where tacking immediately was the only way to cross the starting line!) My plan was to start near the boat but not necessarily fight to win it, and I noticed many others had the same idea.
One thing that stood out was late acceleration. A lot of boats were setting up too close to the line without putting their bow down early enough. If you don’t accelerate in those last few seconds, it doesn’t matter how good your position is—you’ll just get rolled. Hitting full speed at the gun is something I’ve been working on this season, and it definitely makes a difference in these short races.
First Beat:
With shifty conditions, I noticed a lot of sailors staying on the headed tack longer than they should. I often found myself pinned by boats that weren’t tacking on the shifts. To stay flexible, I tried to work the middle of the course, looking for opportunities to take advantage of the shifts.
Downwind:
I’ll be the first to admit—I’m not the fastest downwind. Rounding the windward mark a couple of boat lengths behind Steen, I’d watch him pull ahead by 8+ lengths by the time we were ¾ of the way down. But hey, I stayed upright, which is definitely faster than the alternative!
One thing that helped me stay in control was my vang setup. My boat is rigged so there’s just enough play in the vang to clip it to the boom, sometimes I even need to hold the boom down to clip it in. The setup limits how high the boom can rise when the vang is fully eased. The boats that seemed out of control downwind had a lot more vang play, which was obvious from how high/twisted their booms were. I think the solution is both to sail with more vang on and to limit how much vang can be eased. I still blow the vang before the windward mark and then put a bit back on to maintain control downwind.
Leeward Mark & Second Beat:
I focused on tight mark roundings, slowing down when I was the outside boat if necessary to sail wide and tight. I didn’t see much advantage in staying on port, so I almost always tacked as soon as I could (though I mistimed one and ended up in irons at the mark—lesson learned!).
For the second beat, I tried to stay on starboard as long as possible, waiting for the shifts to sail the lifted tack up to the mark. I wasn’t pinned by other boats, as those I rounded the mark with tended to stay on port. That gave me the freedom to tack and focus on easing, hiking, and trimming my way to the mark while keeping the boat flat, which was not easy in some of the bigger gusts.
All in all, a great day on the water! Looking forward to the next one.
Tyler
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #15
Hi all,
Thank you all for allowing me to race as a guest at PRSA last weekend and today. It’s great to sail with such an active and helpful group of Laser sailors.
The weather for the day was sunny, but temps just above freezing. Winds were gusty, with huge ranges in speed that changed multiple times in each race. The prevailing direction started from the West but worked North throughout the day, though it seemed like every drop in wind pressure precluded a more Westerly shift as it filled in again. I felt I was constantly changing my controls to match the conditions.
Despite all of that I want to thank those on the RC boat for doing a great job of setting courses, getting 6 races off, and helping a fellow sailor right their boat and get back to the dock safely after spending some time in the water. The 15 seconds I spent in the water last weekend was all I needed to know that safety in cold weather sailing is extremely important. There was more than one capsize today as well. I managed to have a spectacular deathroll coming into the leeward mark while leading a race. I made it onto the daggerboard without going (fully) in the water, but my mast was pointed into the wind. If I righted the boat with it like that it would have likely capsized again to leeward. I opted to wait for the puff to pass, taking the time to make sure my vang was off and the main sheet clear to prevent the same outcome. Something I also make sure to do when I first put on my drysuit is squat down and remove as much of the air from it as I can. If I do go in the water, I don’t have odd pockets of air resisting movement and water is less likely to replace what little air is left.. It helps with mobility around the boat too.
Some other observations:
Strategy: Something I often tell myself in the boat is to “sail the longer tack first”, meaning whichever one I will be on for most of the upwind leg. Or whichever one points me closer to the mark, translating to the shortest distance sailed. Especially in shifty conditions, it is better to sail the longest tack first because it will likely shift again, allowing you to take advantage of that shift later in the leg. I was able to make some passes from people tacking away when they were already pointed at the finish line or mark. The exception to this was Steen’s recognition of the puffs filling from the left side of the course, as mentioned before, and tacking early to catch them on a long upwind. I continued on port tack and got stuck in the doldrums of the mid right side of the course. Sometimes local knowledge or just good wind reading wins races.
Mark Room: I had one bit of contact coming into a leeward mark that resulted in someone doing spins for something I don’t think was their fault. I just want to reiterate Laura’s comment from last week about calling for mark room audibly and communicating if you need more. I knew I owed mark room in this situation, but if the inside boat says they need more room (with respect to the principle of a seamanlike rounding) then the outside boat is obligated to give that to them,
Starts: I always find starts interesting because the fleet becomes more like a hive mind. The group decides the actions of the individual. If the fleet sets up early, someone not already posted up on the line has the opportunity to take an open lane. If it sets up late, then anyone too early will likely get rolled by the fleet behind them. Often times the fleet won’t change its approach very much even through big shifts. I was definitely caught off guard by a lefty on the first start, putting me far below the line at the gun. On another start, the wind had shifted even further left so that anyone on starboard was only just barely crossing over the line. In this situation it may be better to forget the usual procedure of starting on starboard and either try to make an agreement with the boats around you to tack out onto port, or start in a position where you can break away from the pack at the line and accelerate.
Anyway those are some things I was thinking about throughout the day. Hopefully someone finds it useful. Sharing some of this stuff helps me refine and think about my own skills, I can see why you all have made it a tradition.
Thank you all again and I hope to see you sometime in the future.
-Tyler Egeli
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #14
Hi everybody,
Greetings from 3rd place! After no sailing for six weekends, it was great to see everyone and spend time on the water. The day delivered sunny skies, mild temperatures, a flood tide, and inconsistent wind, especially in direction. It came from the west(ish) at the start of the first race and then mostly bounced between the northwest and southwest. Kudos to Tom and Steen for helping us get in three races and keeping the course as good as it could be in an impossible situation (e.g., during the last race we crossed the starting line sailing downwind and crossed the finish line sailing upwind!). Congrats to visiting sailor, Tyler Egeli, for winning the day!
A few observations:
- The conditions kept me on my toes! Since nothing was consistent for very long, it felt like the entire afternoon had an extra layer of intensity because I was constantly looking out for wind or trying to feel the wind and adjusting boat position and controls accordingly. It was also a weird mental game because positions could change so dramatically so quickly, both in my favor and not – and so I just never gave up and it mostly worked.
- In terms of controls, I found I played with the vang a lot – keeping it two-blocked when going upwind, then easing varying degrees when reaching, and then letting it off a lot during those few moments of going downwind. This seemed to help with speed.
- Going high on the “downwind” (aka reach) legs during latter races generally worked well and on at least one occasion it was a great passing opportunity.
- There were at least two rules situations on the water that involved the offending parties doing turns (one of whom was me). One re-learned lesson on my part was to make sure when I need room from another boat to actually vocalize that loudly at the earliest opportunity (we all know this, but friendly reminder!) and also to try to anticipate situations as much as possible, especially when things are weird (e.g., reaching to/from the windward mark) (we all know this too, but friendly reminder!).
- Speaking of reminders, it is also great to have an extra line and electrical tape onboard when things go wrong. The mainsheet block end of my hiking strap liberated itself during the first race and I’m grateful I had my bow line that I could spring into temporary strap duty for the rest of the afternoon. I’m also grateful that it wasn’t extra windy b/c my temporary solution would have been less great given my lack of electrical tape to secure my now floppy strap to the line.
Over and out for now. Hope everyone is having a good week!
Laura
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #7
Well today was our first true frostbite day of the season. The temperature was ok while the sun was out but during the second race, the sunshine went away and everything started freezing. All my knots were frozen when we got on shore and all my control lines needed some extra help to release while racing. The main sheet got icy and continually shed small ice chips from the block with every trim.
Thanks to John and Min for running races on the worst day for RC this year! They were able to get 4 races off before getting too cold (and the wind died so we were all happy to go in). We had a mostly west wind that was very shifty but not terribly gusty. The first two races seemed to have a nice breeze around 12 knots with some occasional puffs but the shifts mostly were persistent which made for calmer sailing and few capsizes. Then the wind started to drop off and had really come down by the end of race 4 and our sail in. The water was much lower than normal with all the wind earlier in the week blowing it out of the river.
My day started rough with a reminder to make sure you dump the water from your mast step at the end of sailing. I put my sail up and noticed that my mast was about 3 inches higher than needed. Luckily Tom loaned me his sponge on a stick (something I am buying tonight) and a water bottle to get hot water from the marina office bathroom to pour in to melt the ice. Otherwise the most important advice from today was watching the wind shifts and using them since they were more persistent. As for boat things, mostly just deal with the ice and help lines move.
We will see what the cold temperatures this week provide us to see if sailing next weekend will be possible but let’s all hope for no ice!
Farley
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #6
This was my first windy day of this season! I tend to do better when it’s windy and today followed that trend. I usually attribute my better races in the heavy stuff to my height and weight, this helps but I’m sure there is also some technique in there. I had my outhaul pretty tight and was working my cunningham pretty hard, very tight up wind to depower and looser downwind for what I hoped gives some better shape. I also loosen my vang before the windward mark as I find the looser vang really helps with bearing away. Mostly I know the laser likes to be sailed flat which is a ton of work in heavy breeze. I’m not in as good shape as I have been in past seasons, so I definitely had some “fade” over the races. I was flat and fast in the first race to two, then I had to depower more and was not as sharp as the races progressed.
I like the triangular and olympic courses as the triangle legs require different strategy than the straight downwind legs. The first leg is more about staying in line and not getting rolled. The second leg is more aggressive, seeing if you can go above those in front to get an overlap and steal some wind. Nabeel managed to cruise past me to leeward once, the opposite of how it should work, which was very impressive. I find I’m not as fast downwind as others, but I can make up for it upwind (see flat and fast).
Lastly on windy days I try to minimize my tacks, for me this is a good way to get caught in irons or otherwise lose ground with a bad tack. James Jacob snuck past me with a much better tack near the end of the 5th race.
Thank you Kaitlyn and Lars for running RC and taking care of us out there!
Tom Hutton
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #5
Due to that fateful combination of blissful triumph and outright shame on the race course today, it’s City Swan here with the time-honored third place write-up.
First, a big thanks to Laura, Steen, and Romeo for running four races in another light wind day. The first two races were W1s, and the last two races were W2s. Winds were relatively steady from the NE, and ranged from 4-8mph over the day. Tide was outgoing for about half the afternoon, and started coming back in before the end of racing. These conditions were not inconsistent with what the season has delivered us so far, so sailors were prepared for battling the light breeze and current.
Each race today I staked out the boat end of the starting line, and especially in the first race when it was heavily favored. Going up wind I noticed breeze would come back from the northeast, therefore spent most of the time on the right side of the course. An exception was race three when there were glassy patches closest to the channel, and I made sure not to sail in the direction of those. In the last two races when the breeze was fuller, I was constantly deliberating whether it was advantageous to cover boats or to follow some mini-lifts and slight pressure differentials – the latter two indicators were the way to go.
Downwind – as Farley tipped me off to post-racing – was all about finding your lane, even if that wasn’t the inside. In the third race I did this successfully by gybing over to starboard despite being the most windward boat to the mark. In contrast, I did this very unsuccessfully in the last downwind leg of the final race, by gybing to port too late – and then gybing back (any gybe over one midway through a downwind leg is telltale you’re trying to get out of a predicament). A whopping six boats past me on this leg, so lesson learned! Something that may have helped during downwind legs in today’s relatively light conditions and when the tide was coming in, was raising my centerboard nearly all the way out of the water to reduce drag from the current.
The first race was hands down our most challenging, and a shout out to Connor for conquering it, Jim G. for holding his ground in second place throughout, and to Dan for capturing the coveted third spot – a lot of us were vying for that one.
A reminder that next week we skip a Sunday, but hope to see you all at the Marina’s holiday party Saturday evening. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and Happy Holidays to all!
Kaitlyn
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #4
Sunday was another lovely day of sailing on the Potomac. The temperatures got up into the high fifties with wind into the high teens – overall a wonderful day for a sail. I didn’t feel great about my racing today, but here are a few tips from your returning champion third-place finisher regardless.
First, I will once again advocate for standing up and scanning the course before the race. I will beat this drum until I see everyone do it before every race. In the first race, I stood up at the two-minute gun and saw the breeze was stronger on the left. Lo and behold, I started at the pin, stayed further left longer than everyone else, and was first to the top mark. I managed to hold on to my lead almost the whole way and won the race. The first leg is a) the most important leg and b) the leg you can prepare for most. Use all the tools available to you before the start.
As an addendum, check the forecasted wind and tide before you hit the course as well. The tide was coming in during that first race and we as sailors know that current is stronger in deeper water. I made good ground on downwinds in that first race by sticking left and letting the stronger current in the middle of the river push me to the mark. Farley also saw that the wind was supposed to shift left as the day went. As the day progressed, he started to take more and more advantage of those lefties. Consequently, Farley scored very well today. Preparation isn’t a guarantee of results, but it sure does help.
As I was pulling my boat out of the water, Len (who lost the honor of penning this column by beating me on tiebreaker) told me that in the lighter wind races, he was able to make ground on me because I moved my body and my boat too much going downwind. Disturbing your rudder can induce drag, which is lethal to your boatspeed. I’ll note that my two best downwinds of the day were the ones where I committed to a line early and only really made serious course adjustments when gybing to a puff. Keeping my boat more static on off-wind legs is going to be a focus for me next week.
Finally, winds on the Potomac are variable as hell in my (limited) experience. That means that no race is over, ever. I made crazy ground on boats in front of me by trying to sail to the puffs and keep my speed up on some of the screwy final legs today. There may have been a lucky shift or two as well. Never give up, folks, especially not in these races.
Thank you to race committee Jim Klein and Kevin Cowley for being good sports and resetting the course five (!!) times in four (!!!!) races this afternoon. Congrats to Farley on his victory for the day. I hope to see everyone out next Sunday.
-Connor
2024-2025 ILCA Frostbite #3
Sunday was our coldest and most prolific day of the young season. Race committee managed five races (with one shortened finish) in up-and-down wind and temperatures sitting in the low-40s. Overall, it was a pretty good day of racing. Here are a few things I noticed or focused on today.
I am relatively new to sailing on the Potomac, but it has lots of similarities to my native Deep Creek Lake. The wind was often light and the direction could change in an instant. I feel like a lot of my (modest) success today was based on skills I picked up to counter Deep Creek winds: constantly looking around, trying to find the next puff, and keeping the boat moving in the lulls. I was doing my best to stand up and survey the upwind leg during the start sequence so I had a good idea of where and when the first few puffs of the race would be. You can see the course more clearly from six feet above the water than from three. For instance, I saw the wind filling from the left at the start of race four and changed my start plan to get to that wind faster. It worked out and I was first to the weather mark.
Another thing I’ve been trying to work on is teamwork on downwinds. Sometimes it’s helpful to work with the boats in your pack to make ground on the clusters ahead of or behind you, ESPECIALLY in light air. I worked with both Lars and Kaitlyn at different points today to make sure we were communicating and staying out of each other’s air. You can always fight your battles at the mark and on upwinds and have more margin for error.
Last week, Farley highlighted Tom Hutton for footing slightly on a long upwind tack to get clear air and better boatspeed. I’d like to shoutout Kaitlyn Lucey for doing the same thing today and ultimately beating me (going from mid-pack to second in one leg) by doing the same thing. Laser sailors often try too hard to keep the boat on the knife’s edge of the wind. That’s not always the most VMG-friendly path to the mark, especially in low, shifty winds.
Final tip: wear warm clothing. I lost mobility in my toes sometime around the fourth start. Learn from my mistakes and dress for the weather.
Thank you David Metcalf and Mike Scardaville for running the races in tough conditions. Congrats to Steen for winning the day! Everyone have a good week, and I hope to see y’all next Sunday!
-Connor
ILCA Frostbite Series Starts November 16!
The PRSA ILCA Frostbite Series starts November 16 and goes through March 23! We will not be sailing December 23rd. We hope to see people out!